Cons:

It's been nearly ten years since Tecmo first introduced gamers to the world of Monster Rancher. Entering a genre already dominated by the likes of Pokemon and Tamagotchi, the game still managed to carve out a niche for itself with its unique monster creation system. The game lets players create a variety of wild creatures from different CDs lying around the house. Now, fans of the series can dust off their most obscure CDs and DVDs one more time for the release of the latest game in the Monster Rancher franchise, Monster Rancher EVO for the PS2.

This time around, players take the role of Julio, an orphan boy taken in years ago by the members of a traveling circus. Julio is responsible for taking care of the performing monsters in the circus. After the disappearance of one of its main attractions, the circus is visited by a strange girl with unique talents. The girl, Nayuta, has the ability to manipulate Saucer Stones, freeing the monsters locked inside. Nayuta also tells Julio about his potential as a true monster breeder, and says that he is part of the reason she's there. From there, Julio and the rest of the circus take the show on the road and tackle various adventures along the way.

The biggest draw of the Monster Rancher series has always been the unique way in which players initially get a hold of their creatures. The game allows players to use other CDs or DVDs to release the creatures locked inside. During the game, players swap the game disc for a different disc from their own collections. These can be music CDs, their favorite DVD movies, or other PS2 discs. The game reads the data off of these discs and uses it to create a creature unique to each disc. There are even secret creatures that can be obtained with the use of particular discs (try popping in the Fantastic Four movie DVD, for example). Most players will spend more time swapping discs and creating new creatures than they will actually playing the game, just because it's so much fun to see what different discs will unlock.

If there's one thing that can be said about the Monster Rancher franchise, it's that the series has never been one to rest on its laurels. Since the first game on the original PlayStation, the series has gone through a series of different evolutions in gameplay. In Monster Rancher EVO, this trend continues. First off, the game incorporates a new set of mini-games to help in monster growth. Since Julio and his creatures are part of a circus, they naturally have to put on a good show in the towns they visit. During these scheduled Showtime performances, Julio has to play one of three different mini-games in order to boost the performance of a given monster. These mini-games are fairly basic button mashers, testing the player's reflexes and pattern recognition. Doing well during Showtime performances results in more money and fame for the circus, as well as bigger stat increases for the monsters in the show.